Honour for Sanskrit scholars

File picture of Chandra Kant Shukla receiving the award from President Pranab Mukherjee

Jharkhand had two reasons to be proud at a special programme hosted by President Pranab Mukherjee to felicitate scholars on January 17.

Two Sanskrit professors from the state  Dr Chandra Kant Shukla and Dr Dhananjay Vasudeo Dwivedi, both associated with Ranchi University  were among 57 proponents of Sanskrit, Pali/Prakrit, Arabic and Persian, who were presented certificates of honour by the President at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Shukla, former head of postgraduate department of Sanskrit of Ranchi University, received the Presidential Award of Certificate of Honour for lifetime achievement in the field of Sanskrit language and literature.

Dwivedi, an assistant professor in Sanskrit in Ranchi College, was accorded Maharshi Badrayan Vyas Samman for outstanding contribution to inter-disciplinary studies involving Sanskrit. The Vyas Samman is meant for young scholars in the age group of 30-40 years.

The success is the result of my continuous efforts. The credit goes to my seniors. I want to establish a Sanskrit academy in the state. Of all the languages mentioned in Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, Sanskrit is most popular as it is spoken across the country, said Shukla, a visiting fellow at Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth, Tirupati.

The scholar, who had served at Kameshwar Singh Darbhanga Sanskrit University, Bihar, as vice chancellor and pro-vice chancellor and has been elected as joint president of All India Oriental Conference (AIOC) to be organised in Guwahati in 2014, is the proud recipient of six other prestigious awards.

Dwivedi, who had served at the Ranchi edition of a national English daily for four years before joining as assistant professor in the department of Sanskrit of Ranchi College, credited his achievement to his family members, all elders and teachers.

I would like to work in the field of medical plants and bring all information about them mentioned in Sanskrit books before the people, he said.

Among his other accolades are the Krishna Joo Razdan Award in 2012 for best paper in Bhakti section of AIOC; Pratibha Samman; Prof Dinesh Prasad Pandey Smriti Puraskar; and Pt Trigunanand Shukla Smriti Puraskar.

It is a matter of pride that two scholars having association with Ranchi University were presented certificates of honour by President Pranab Mukherjee, said vice chancellor of Ranchi University L.N. Bhagat.